Dry cleaning operators have a difficult time operating a dry cleaning establishment on a day to day basis due to the various Federal, State, County and City laws and regulations that control and govern the use of specific dry cleaning solvents that may be harmful to the operator and/or customer, as well as the emission of dry cleaning fumes and odors emanating from the dry cleaning plant. In order to operate a dry cleaning plant, the dry cleaner must abide by these tough laws, regulations and standards or the operator is subject to large fines and/or closure of the dry cleaning plant in operation. This means the dry cleaning operator must purchase new dry cleaning equipment referred to as fourth generation cleaning machines or add-on equipment that reduces odors in the dry cleaning machines referred to as third generation dry cleaning machines. Many dry cleaning owners will be forced to purchase this new type of equipment and/or purchase expensive add-on equipment in order to stay in business.
Another major problem dry cleaning operators encounter is hazardous waste disposal from their dry cleaning plants, as the operators cannot throw away any liquid waste from their dry cleaning equipment. This hazardous liquid waste must be picked up by a licensed hazardous waste company and this waste removal pickup is quite costly. Water waste from the dry cleaning equipment is similarly picked up by the licensed hazardous waste firm or disposed of by special liquid transfer equipment which is also very expensive.
Federal, State, County and City governments also have strict regulations on using dry cleaning equipment in mix-use buildings or buildings having family occupancy. Dry cleaning establishments in such buildings, as mentioned above, require special rooms to contain the solvent fumes, and for storing of the solvents and solvent contaminates. These rooms require proper air flow transfer and the measurement of solvent fumes coming from these special rooms are strictly enforced by inspectors from various Federal, State, County and City agencies such as the EPA, DEP, OSHA, and Department of Health. These inspectors on a regular basis shut-down many dry cleaning plants that do not comply with these regulations. In addition, the dry cleaner owner is also required to keep extensive records of their overall operational procedures and make weekly self-inspections of their equipment. A further problem dry cleaning owners have to deal with is the common practice where landlords of the aforementioned buildings refuse to lease to dry cleaning stores or not renew their current leases because of complaints by tenants and neighbors.
Present day procedures for dry cleaning include chemical (spot) cleaning or wet cleaning of garments. In chemical cleaning of garments, the dry cleaning operator initially spot cleans a particular stain, soil or dirt mark with a specific liquid chemical. Additionally, the operator can also spot clean again a stubborn stain, soil or dirt mark after the initial dry cleaning procedure has been completed. Next, the dry cleaner operator loads the clothing garments into a dry cleaning machine filled with a dry cleaning solvent such as perchloroethylene. Perchloroethylene solvent is very expensive to purchase even though it is reused many times and this solvent may also contain dry cleaning soaps to aid in removing soil and stains. The dry cleaning machines use pumps to transfer the solvent to the wheel or basket that contain the clothing garments to be cleaned. The dry cleaning solvent is filtered many times during the dry cleaning procedure to remove the dirt and soil from the wheel which prevents any redepositing of dirt and soil back on the clothing garments being cleaned. The next step after the previous cleaning cycle has been completed, is where the clothing garments are extracted from the dry cleaning machine after a high speed spinning cycle such that the dry cleaning solvent is drained away from the clean clothing garments and the wheel. Next, after extraction from the wheel, the cleaned garments are then dried using water cooling, refrigeration and heat within the clothes dryer. After drying, fumes from the wheel or basket are removed by special equipment such as carbon absorbers, where the operators do a distillation process to remove the waste from the cleaning solvent such that solvent can be reused again. The waste and water coming from the dry cleaning machine is hazardous waste and must be disposed of properly. Some fabrics cannot be chemically dry cleaned even though they are labeled as "dry clean only", as these fabrics may bleed, shrink, lose color, have coating separation, melted beads and fabric fusing problems.
In wet cleaning of garments, the dry cleaning operator uses water, special soaps and temperature control of the cleaning liquid to safely clean many types of fabrics. Statistically, the wet cleaning procedures as demonstrated by professional standards are only good for 40 to 50% of the clothing garments received by dry cleaning establishments. Problems associated with wet cleaning include bleeding, shrinkage, losing of color, and wrinkling. The wet cleaning of fabrics by the dry cleaning operator also faces the hard task of extensive time consuming pressing procedures to stretch garments that move, shrink and do not press-out properly; and additionally remove hard set wrinkles, and to stretch-out and press garments shrunken in size. The dry cleaning operator who wet cleans most or all fabrics faces the labor intensive procedure of stretching shrunken fabrics and removing hard set wrinkles and this procedure is not a viable option for most dry cleaning operations as it reduces profits. Common customer complaints on using the wet cleaning procedure for garments have been loss of texture, feel, body and lack of luster to the fabric being cleaned.
There remains a need for an improved apparatus and method for dry cleaning of clothing garments made from various types of fabrics, leathers and furs using environmentally safe dry cleaning gases and solutions which provide a safe dry cleaning procedure that reduces the operating cost of dry cleaning. Additionally, there is a need for an improved dry cleaning apparatus and method which will eliminate odors, the need for auxiliary equipment or solvent containment rooms, as well as, the need for expensive hazardous waste removal by a licensed waste removal company.